Monday, August 20, 2012

Duball LLC and Safeway have announced a start date for their Safeway project at 3830
Georgia Avenue. The project, announced several years ago, will develop
a 62,000 s.f. Safeway with 220 apartment units above. The development will replace the dated 21,000 Safeway building. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held September 19th.

The "transit oriented state-of-the-are Safeway," sitting on 1.56 acres, is one block north of the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro and will include 86 below grade spaces for customers and 135 spaces for residents. The development agreement, worked out between landowner Safeway and developer Duball, keeps Safeway as the owner of the land with Duball granted development rights for residential units and parking on top of the Safeway.

14
comments:

Nice building. This city becomes more of an urban paradise everytime they build something like this.

Braulio
said...

Great for the neighborhood. Yawn-inducing architecture.

Anonymous
said...

Architecture looks like Penrose's Pike 3400 project now under construction.

Anonymous
said...

Who is the design architect?

Anonymous
said...

I think the design is awful. It manages to be bland and yet actively misproportioned and heavy-handed at the same time. I know, I know -- it's got bricks and divided windows, so it's supposedly contextual. Besides disagreeing with the idea that new buildings have to be contextual, I just can't understand why DC architects can't figure out more inventive ways to respond to context.

My comment to the question above: The design is example of balance between owners goals, neighborhood needs, target market and budget. We all can design never seen inventive ways to respond to context. The question I have is, who will afford to rent such dwelling?

Torti Gallas job well done!

Skidrowe
said...

To repeat others, who is the architect? Honestly, it's beyond insulting that an article of this nature wouldn't mention the architect. And so easy to correct!

In terms of design, while I think the previous "Anonymous" is a little harsh, this building certainly is not pushing the Washington-as-world-city agenda forward. There are a couple of nice if unexceptional 1920's Georgian Revival apartment buildings in the general vicinity, which I guess are what this design is drawing from. But in contrast with the Wardman rowhouses, which for better and for worse make an almost monolithic context to residential Petworth, the commercial/mixed-use strip on Georgia Avenue is chock-a-block. This design was not constrained by context. It could have found its own voice without paining the choir, because there is no choir. As-is, it better be well detailed, with good materials, or it will look like a second-rate version of the 1920's buildings.

This design is excellent urbanistically and okay architecturally, which all things considered is doing decently well. But our standard of ambition needs to be higher than "decently well" to join the urban big leagues.

Though I'm not a subscriber of beggars can't be choosy, anything is an upgrade from what stands now.

Anonymous
said...

I wasn't aware that architects should be pushing the "Washintgon-as-world-city" agenda. By that logic, every new building should be a preening look-at-me building that makes for horrible urbanism. Look at any of the great cities of the world, and 99% of the buildings are like this, good background buildings whose sum is greater than the parts.

And to say that there is a "monolithic" Wardman context to Petworth betrays a scant ability to read context. The center of Petworth was developed in the late Victorian period like Mt.Pleasant, and the architecture reflects that, if one can read it. And the idea that this design takes cues from the "Georgian Revival" apartment buildings in the neighborhood is an interesting take. For modernists, brick is brick, but for those who take the time to study and appreciate history, there's a whole language to read. I would posit the design comes from countless commercial designs of the 1890's to the 1920's, strong vertical piers with a tri-partate facade, strong cornice lines, and commercial style windows much like the Chicago school.

If it had been another glass box, modernists would have said how cutting edge the design was, without acknowledging they've been building glass boxes for more than half a century, K street anybody? A second rate 1920's building is 100 times more desirable than a first rate glass box, no matter how cool the glass panel detail is, becasue...that glass panel detail is all you get, over the whole facade.

This whole "gotta join the big leagues" mentality is kinda silly. Did the designers of the San Fransisco victorians think, "this gingerbread says world class"? No. DId the designers of New York's tenemant buidlings think "this factory cast terra-cotta detail says world class"? No. Yet they form an integral part of our image of those world class cities. So why should he designer of an infill building in Petworth think "world class"? There are many opportinities in DC to proove (to whomever you are insecure) that we are a world class city, but this isn't it.

The architectural tea party! If you like traditional architecture, you're part of the Tea party, who knew! All those intolerant liberals who flock to the victorians of CLeveland Park, or the Federals of Georgetown. Who knew they where secret Tea Partiers! Congratulations Skidrowe, you've descended into nonsencicle name calling to win your argument. That and you're grasp of architecture sound like a a recipy for greatness.

Anonymous
said...

Building design resembles WDG residential building at Rockville Town Square. (The Palladian) Developed by DANAC Corporation and Ross Investments. Kudos to Torti Gallas.

$389,000

$495,000

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